ODonoghue and the Irish Daily Mail

Decision of the Press Council

The Council decided to admit the appeal on the grounds that a procedural oversight had resulted in the decision of the Press Ombudsman being made before the complainant had given written consent for his father to act on his behalf.

The Council decided that the prominent headline, which implied that, if the death penalty had been reinstated, it could apply in the case of Wayne O’Donoghue, was seriously misleading. The newspaper had furthermore not taken action to correct the false impression conveyed by the headline, as prescribed in Principle 2.1. The Council therefore upheld the complaint in respect of that Principle. It did not, however, find reason to uphold the complaint under Principle 5.